A Changed Story
by Squireheart
Summary: The Earth has been reborn, and is dying once more. The cast of the old Wolf's Rain are back to find Paradise, again. A new wolf now joins them. There will be change, but will the ending be the same? This is not like many other WR stories. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Alright! First Wolf's Rain story (at least the first one I'm posting) I really hope you like, but let me explain a little about this story.

A long time ago I read an amazing WR story, but the author didn't put up the last chapter *cries* there was only one chapter left! Anyways... And it wasn't all about romance, which the fanfics for WR seem to mostly be about now-a-days. So I made this story. It's mostly about the action, like the actual anime/manga. Now, I will have some romance, but probably not with my main OC character xD And I know she's a girl *like all the rest* but I find it easier to relate that way. Don't worry though, it's still good.

Anywho, like I said before, please enjoy. R&R!!!!!! Also, this place IS called Fanfiction. net. I hope you know that NOBODY on here actually owns ANYTHING they write about (except for their own OOC). Of course though. I do own these dogs you're about to hear about... and Blood :]

* * *

"Come on, tomorrow's gonna be a long day," so the bald man with an oversized brown coat had said.

_'What a liar.'_

The day was never long anymore, not now, not ever. An over exaggeration that was… _'Stupid human.'_ Time had changed from a few hundred years ago, getting older and loosing battery. Well, maybe to a human nothing had changed, but for those living on the other side of the line life is clipped into seconds.

"Check the dogs' one more time Bill, give them water if they need it but nothing else," the bald man yelled out again at a younger kid with messy black hair.

"Will do Chief."

_'So the fun begins.'_

The loud, barking of twelve dogs rose as Bill entered the tent with them in it. All twelve banged against their cage to add to the obnoxious yap they enjoyed taunting the humans with so much. Only one rested still within one of the confined cages. Peacefully trying to sleep, or so it always seemed. "Sleeping well Blood? Enjoying tonight's commotion?" Bill quickly checked the other cages before stopping in front of the ever peaceful Blood. The boy's face was turned up in an impish grin before he took a stick and smacked it upon Blood's cage. The dog merely flicked an ear, so the boy lost interest and turned around, too close to the cage still.

Before Bill could even comprehend the mistake he had made, Blood's muzzle was through the bars and ripping at the boy's leg. Crying for help, Bill started to smack the dog with his stick. The commotion brought forth a new wave of sound from the other dogs, and the Chief. "What the hell!" The bald man didn't seem happy at all by what he was seeing. Before some of the other men could enter the scene Blood had been beaten away and Bill rescued with a messed up leg.

"Take him and bandage his leg… NOW!" Chief was yelling again as the three other men stood somewhat stunned at the damage. Seeing the bald man's face though, and hearing his voice, all three grabbed Bill and took off to their own tents.

"Damn newbie's don't know what they're doing," Chief was seething now before turning toward the dog that had started all of this. The night was silent, the attention of the other canines were all on Blood and Chief. It stayed that way too until the bald man kicked the dog's cage and turned away. All eyes watched him leave before turning back to Blood.

____''~~''____

"What a way to treat the new kid eh?" A bulldog spoke out loud for the rest to hear in his doggy language.

"What'dya expect? Blood is the queen of all killers." Another dog, a boxer, replied to the bulldog a few feet away from him.

"Would you expect any less from a wolf?"

No one said anything, not until Blood spoke herself. "They deserve a good warning, besides; they're a part of our world now. There are rules to this game of dog fighting that they have to follow."

"You're a wolf though," the boxer exclaimed. With a grin, Blood answered.

"I know."

After that the dogs mumbled to each other like brothers, but it wouldn't last once the sun rose. _'The nights are too short as well as the day, if only they could be longer…'_

It was just a simple sneeze, one sneeze, and all but Kiba was jumping in his fur. Toboe, falling behind every one else, as usual, now was the center of Hige's and Tsume's irritation.

"Come on runt, do we need another break?" Hige, who was irritated out of hunger, looked just about crazy to all but himself.

"Come on Toboe, you're slower than daylight." Tsume was just irritated because, well, that was how he was. Kiba was the only one not fazed by the pup's sneeze, keeping silent and to himself.

"I just sneezed guys, come on, I'm fine, really." Poor Toboe tried to stand up for himself, though it wasn't a good attempt, both wolves who had pestered him before turned back around and the four started up again toward paradise. Silence over came the group as they walked further into the day. The sun still shone behind them, just now making it over the horizon.

It seemed as if today was going to be another long, boring day, filled with Toboe's murmuring complaints and the grumble of Hige's stomach. Kiba still lead the group and Tsume thought silently to himself. Everything was as it should be since the four had left the city together about a day ago. So, when Kiba stopped to stare off to his right, away from the scent of the lunar flowers, the rest looked confused as to what the white wolf was gazing at.

"Hey Kiba… Why'd we stop?" Hige walked up to stand next to the blue eyed boy and took a few good whiffs. The first smell to hit him was blood, though not the juicy, edible type. "Smells like a bunch of dogs took a chunk out of each other." The smell of food hit the large, tawny wolf next, followed by a more familiar scent.

"There's food here," Toboe pointed out, already drooling at the corner of his mouth.

"And a wolf," Kiba simply stated. Hige was taking another big whiff before nodding his agreement about a wolf being here.

Tsume raised a brow, and then looked at the others with irritation once more. "So what, are we going to try and find this wolf or something?"

"There's food here, might as well," Hige was already walking in the direction of the scent, nose in the air. He was followed by an eager Toboe and it didn't take long for Kiba to do the same. Tsume was the last to go, but he eventually caught up with the rest after mumbling a few things to himself.

Soon, all four wolves ran to quickly cover the distance between them and civilization, if you could call it that. The scent of food, of blood, and of the wolf came from a small town with a bunch of tents set up on the outside. It really wasn't big, but served its purpose, though the traveling wolves knew not of what that was.

"Let's get something to eat first, not like we can miss the wolf in this small ass town." Tsume seemed certain, already looking around for some grub. The rest agreed, some with more enthusiasm than others, and the four made their way around. It wasn't as if they knew what was going to happen after they had lunch, for if they did, they might have waited to eat.

____''~~''____

"Come on, come on. Place your bids for the winner of the dog pit. Will it be The Blood Bathing Baroness, or will it be Neck Ripper? Come on, come on!"

Noise was everywhere, it was everything. Humans filed in, bored and depressed with their own lives to the point that they wasted away the remainder of their existence with such a bloody game. It wasn't anything new though; life for those actually in the game was no different than the day before, the months, the years. Over and over again to the point of their own tediousness demise, nothing will change.

"You've got to win this Blood, ya here me?" Chief stood beside the wolf's cage, talking to her and grinning more and more as the bids came in. "They say Ripper is good, but he won't have anything on you. Crack his skull, and bathe in his blood." That was the usual saying, still, nothing new there. _And like always, I'll bathe myself red._

"Hey Chief!" Bill came into the tent that held the dogs, looking over excited for the upcoming match. _Stupid boy._ Blood couldn't help it; she'd make fun of anyone, especially Bill, since the incident the night before. "If Blood wins, we'll be rich!"

"Which is exactly why my Baroness here will win. Won't you girl?" Chief gave Blood a quick smirk, kicking her cage once while he was at it, and then left the tent. Bill stayed behind though, filling water bowls to prepare the other dogs for the matches that would come after Blood and Ripper.

____''~~''____

"Have anything to say before you walk out Blood?" The boxer from the night before barked out once Bill had left. A white bull terrier snorted in laughter, doubting the boxer's question.

"Not much, but maybe something still…" All went silent as the few dogs watched the wolf in anticipation. "Let the weak die today and the strong forge a new generation of bloodlust." Once again, the wolf was ginning, and the other dogs barked loudly in agreement. Every one of them was riled up now, none of them wanting to have to wait for their time to fight.

"Don't forget, play with your food." The bull terrier added in, just for laughs. Soon, everyone was doing the same though.

"Dance the stage like you own it," coming from the boxer that had spoken before.

"Laugh when you know their effort is pointless." A black boxer spoke this time.

"Kill to please, if not, then for the meat," a young pit bull joined in.

"And most important, have fun," the last to join in was a pitch black, large ass mastiff. His voice was low, deep, and everyone in the fighting profession respected this dog for his age and unlimited wins. Even Blood would not dare to ignore him; he had been like a father to her since she had been born in this place. If you didn't listen to him, it was your loss.

"Don't worry; he won't even cross that scratch before I start the game."

"Still too cocky," the black mastiff shook his head, but with a grin as he looked at Blood.

____''~~''____

There weren't many who could control Blood, seeing as she hardly let them, not unless there was a fight to be won at least. Dragging one of Chief's men by the chain around her neck, the young she-wolf was racing to the pit. In the light her pelt was easier to see than in her cage, thick enough to stand the chilly nights yet not enough to keep wandering fangs from digging down into her neck. Blood was, more than 80%, light silver with white paws and a white under belly. The only easy change in her light color would be her dark, ash gray ears, shoulders, and back. A few scars stretched across her front legs, along with two small nicks across her muzzle near her eyes. Nobody really looked at those scars though, for if they did, they would have to look at Blood's rusty, ruby red eyes. It wasn't normal to have such a color, but it fit in the wolf's profession.

"Ripper's a big boy Blood, so there's no reason to be nice with him you hear me?" Chief was waiting by the pit as the fighter was brought up. Her chain was passed on like a long forgotten ceremony; when torches were passed on to blaze as a symbolic opening. This wasn't a memorable time though, not unless Blood ripped the lungs from Ripper's throat and won the large amount of money placed on her for winning.

Holding onto her still, Chief walked the large silver canine into the large pit where people upon poor, pitiful people gathered in anticipation. The floor was hard, very hard, and green, splashed with all different sorts of dog blood from older fights. The main wall of the pit reached only to Blood's shoulders, made out of a hard wood, while a second metal meshed wall reached up to the shoulder's of the humans. In earlier years dogs would actually jump out of the ring to get away, now, they couldn't.

Setting up behind a clearly seen white scratch above the green and dull red floor, Blood waited silently, her muscles tensed, for Neck Ripper to take up his place behind another scratch about ten feet away from her own white mark. Chief had removed the chain by then as they waited, but still held on to her neck behind the line.

Contemplating, Blood thought about what she had been told about Neck Ripper. He wasn't to be taken lightly, seeing as he was most likely bigger than she was, and he actually thought about his moves and where he placed his paws next. Ripper had also won plenty of fights before, but with a bit of over confidence, Blood was sure that streak wouldn't last. She had lost a few times before, but not lately and not enough to leave anymore doubts from her beginner years.

"Here he comes," the bald Chief patted Blood's neck, but held onto her tighter to keep Blood from starting the fight too early.

____''~~''____

"And here I thought the big bad wolf would at least look like a fight worth having," Ripper spoke with a rotted voice that lifted Blood's lips to unsheathe her fangs.

"Watch what you say beetle breath."

"So scary, but I promise to be kind… enough."

"No need," Blood spoke at the large, what looked like, mastiff as a whistle blew signaling the fight to begin. Chief let the wolf go and she bolted in a silver flash toward Ripper.

Keeping light on her paws, the wolf came within inches of the large dog before having to pull away. The brute had put his head down and pushed off with his hind legs powerfully trying to ram Blood down. Growling viciously, Blood twisted back and clashed with the dog in a loud clap of thunder as the noise of everything else dropped away.

It was only the fight that mattered, and nothing else. Snapping about briefly, Blood tried to assess the situation, but Ripper reared up and slapped her away with a very large forepaw. He came down with a thump and grunted and growled. His eyes were narrowed, watching the wolf as she moved around him. He didn't give her a chance to get very far anyway since he lunged back.

Blood ducked, putting her weight to the side to avoid a full on blow, and she was lucky as Ripper's hot breath flew by her ear. Quickly thinking, Blood snapped at the dog, her teeth meeting Ripper's jaw, right where it connected to the neck. Ripper let out a quick whimper of pain, but shook himself to knock the silver female off. It didn't work very well, so instead, Ripper took his front paws and started to step on Blood's body that hung loosely as she cut deeper in the dog's jaw.

It was painful, Blood could feel the mastiff's claws dig into her skin and rip through it to reveal pink flesh. She wasn't going to let go, and to prove that, she clawed Ripper's face with her front paws, battering his dark brown eyes until he finally put a paw on Blood's chest and pushed with the tremendous strength that he had to rip the she-wolf off, along with a good chunk of his skin.

Howling, Ripper staggered back, swinging his head back and forth trying to get rid of the pain. Spitting out her mouthful, Blood took her chance to get a better grip on the brute's neck, but he knocked her clear off of her paws with a butt from his massive head.

Now, taking his chance, Ripper ran up and brought his fang down on Blood. She had enough time to move so that her neck wasn't what Ripper bit into, but instead her thigh. Howling with her own pain, after feeling a slight crack from inside her body as Ripper bit down, Blood tried to pull away, scraping the ground only to find it slippery with a layer of both her's and the brute's blood. Knowing that this wasn't going to help, Blood spun her upper torso toward Ripper, quickly thinking.

At the beginning, when he had reared up and swatted her away with a massive paw, he grunted before he growled when he landed. Maybe a fight before this one had left the brute permanently injured? Reaching through the pain, Blood snapped for Ripper's front legs, getting his right one and biting down viciously until she felt a satisfying crack from between her red stained fangs.

Ripper howled, as expected, and let go of Blood as he crumbled to the floor on his right side. Swiftly moving, the she-wolf took a good aim at the brute's neck and bit down, hard. The mastiff howled again, and then started to whimper as he struggled to get away. Blood wasn't going to let him go though, and kept stopping him by biting down harder.

The bustle and noise of the humans all around the pit came back to Blood as Chief and another stupid human came to pull the two bloody warriors away from one another. With the cold chain around her neck again, the wolf was sure that the fight had been won, and was now finished. Neck Ripper had blood covering his eyes, and could hardly move with only one leg to support his front. There were other scratches, but not that bad, just ones from when they clashed and slightly scraped each other.

Blood was bleeding from a scratch on the side of her head after being thrown to the ground, and also had a broken bone in her leg that was painful to put any weight on.

"You won," Chief simply put it, and Blood howled in triumph her success before a whiff of something familiar, something she hadn't smelled for a long time, hit her nose. With wide, red eyes, Blood looked around for the smell, and found near the entrance of the fighting tent, four boys. Dumbfounded, Blood just stared at them. She had never known her mom, and had only met one before, but now there were four.

_'Wolves.'_

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_OK. only first chapter, but i have second one just about done so I'll put it up here when I get at least one review *please!* After second chapter I will probably get back on track with the anime where I'm at, with an extra character of course though xD_


	2. Chapter 2

Okay. I know, first chapter alone can suck. So nvm. I'll just put up the second chapter today as well. Hope you enjoy ^.^

* * *

So what, the Chief only lied a little bit. _Tomorrow will be a long day,_ he had said. '_Ha, but it would be a long night.'_

____''~~''____

Blood was speechless, and couldn't move. She watched the four boys with bright eyes, about as curious in them as they were to her. Ears lifted to maybe catch any words they threw at her, but they stayed silent. They only watched from a distance, as if they were afraid to come any closer. Then again, who wouldn't if you were a part of the canine species? This place is a hell, as well as a sanctuary. Because for most of the dogs, and wolf, here, there was nowhere else to go.

Blood waited for something to happen, anything really. _'Why are they just standing there though? And why do I care more than I should?' _Finally, one of the free wolves, a pup, started to shake. He seemed a little scared, but of course, the smell and scene could scare anyone. And then, the pup backed away and left. The other three still watched, but one by one left the area as well. Blood's ears went down, a little disappointed, but she was being dragged away already. She hardly noticed the tug of the chain, choking to drag her off. _'I must look really pathetic right now…'_ And she really did.

"Come on Blood, what are you doing? Let's go, back in." Chief had dragged the wolf all the way back to her cage, and then had to shove her in. She didn't snap, which was odd, and didn't bark or growl. She went to the back of her cage, her very small and pathetic cage, and curled up. "Hey, don't get comfortable. We still need to get you fixed up." And the bald many left.

____''~~''____

"Well, well. Good job Blood. You are some kind of bitch. Am I right guys?" One of the dogs had spoken, Blood didn't quite care who though. They were cheering, hooting and howling. Any win the Chief's dogs could get meant a week of peaceful bliss without fighting and with plenty of food. If there was a loss, usually it meant training and a hell of a beat down.

"Hey, Blood, how'd you take the big guy down anyway?"

"Yeah, yeah. How much blood did you get out of him?"

"How big was he?" All these questions, before today, Blood would have been happy to answer with pride. She was, as usual, over confident. But not today, however nobody seemed to notice.

"Hey, Breaker, you're fighting next aren't you? Who's the lucky mutt stuck with light footed you?" The black mastiff, the old one every one respected, teased another dog that was going to fight next. Attention quickly turned away from the wolf, and to the next fighter. Blood was glad, and thanked the mastiff quietly.

"Nothing to it, but you seem distracted. What's goin on?"

"I-," but Blood didn't have the time to finish. Chief came back in with four other men, and he was heading straight for the still bleeding wolf.

____''~~''____

"Come on, we have to clean her up quickly. Bill, I want you to staple the wounds close. The rest of you, help me hold her down. If we're lucky, it won't take us an extra three men to get her wounds to heal." And luckily, it didn't.

Chief grabbed Blood by her chain collar and dragged her out of her cage. She didn't put up much of a fight, still thinking about other things. Only when four men grabbed her and held her down on the ground did the fighting spirit come back. She growled a little, snapped a bit too, but the muzzle was already on. And then Bill, newbie Bill, grabbed at the wolf's open wounds and cleaned them off with a wet rag and some cleaner. He then proceeded to grab the skin at both sides of the wound and pull them together, before sealing them together with staples. Over seventy went of the silver canine's leg alone and others where it needed to be.

Finally, after only five minutes, it was over. Blood beat away the men as they got up and went into her cage growling overly viciously. "Let her calm down before we take off that muzzle, or she'll bite us right here and now." Chief warned, and the others agreed. And then they were gone. It was quiet for a while, but the dogs soon started to bark a little more and Bill came back in to grab the next opponent.

It was a rule, an unwritten rule at least, that during a healing no one barks. When dogs bark, it causes the one with the stapler to miss. Dogs could also get too riled up and bite the humans during the heal. This would only make Chief mad, and when Chief was mad no one, especially the poor fools in the cages, went unnoticed in his wrath. He made sure there would be discipline.

____''~~''____

So Blood stayed in her cage, quiet for a bit until the yelling and screaming of humans in the other tent told her that the next fight had begun. She finally got up, looked at the tent opening, then to the others dogs. She watched them only for a few split seconds, and then turned her gaze to thee mastiff. "It was strange," was all she could say at first through the muzzle.

"What happened?" the mastiff asked once again, his tone deep, but concerned.

"Nothing bad Mal. Well, I don't think so anyway." Blood tried to think if the short encounter was a bad one, but couldn't see why.

"After I had won the fight, I noticed four wolves standing at the tent entrance to the pit. FOUR of them! They just stared at me, and I could only stare back.

"What happened after?" Mal didn't seem too surprised, but he was good at hiding that stuff.

"They ran off, after looking a little shaken. And then I was dragged here."

"Are you sure they were wolves, how come nobody noticed a bunch of large looking dogs right outside of the tent? I mean, I know your kind are good at hiding themselves, but they're pretty much dead right now."

Blood nodded, agreeing with him, but looked at him with surprise in her eyes. That's right, they were wolves, but didn't look it. How come she hadn't noticed? "They looked like humans though, but I could see the wolf behind the illusion. I've never seen that before."

"Blood, you've only seen one wolf in your life, and he was stuck in the exact same cage you're in now. If that was how your kind have been hiding these past few hundred years, then I doubt he was going to give away the secret by changing. And he was too old to run away anyways." Blood nodded her head, understanding, and Mal had an almost sad look to his expression.

"Hey, we won again!" A pit bull yelled out, excited. The other dogs barked happily. And soon the humans were in here healing the dog and slapping him into his cage like they had done before, and then walked away. Everyone wanted to know what had happened, leaving Blood to her own thoughts.

'_It's been a while since I've thought about him.'_ Who she was talking about was the almost forgotten wolf. He was of a dark brown color, a very dark brown, and was very old. Chief had found him almost dead not too far from where they had set up tents a long time ago. Blood was still a pup, a very young pup. She still thought that she was a dog then. Not even Mal, the only dog now who had ever met the silver wolf's mother, knew of the pup's origin. Only when the old brown wolf, Dante, came did the secret get out.

He came in and was set up next to Blood. He saw her, and started to talk to her like they were old friends. Of course, at first, she had growled at him. Dante only laughed a little, and then asked her if she knew who she was. The pup had no idea what he was asking, so he was blunt in telling her that she was a wolf. At first, no one believed him, but it became more apparent as the few months went by.

'_Dante used to tell me stories. Some about his own life, what had happened to his pack, and stories about a place called paradise.'_ Those were good memories, and thinking about him now, Blood missed the old wolf. So did the large black mastiff too, as they became good friends since both had a connection. Both had looked after Blood when she was young.

"Hey Mal, you're up next against a young brat. Beat him to a pulp will ya? And Blood, what are you thinking about? Start barking with the rest of us, we're going to have a winning streak!" The damn pit bull again. Blood sighed and looked over to him. Mal just laughed a little, getting ready to be taken away. Already another two dogs on Chief's team had gone and won, and there had been a break as other teams fought together. Over an hour had gone by while Blood was reminiscing.

'_Which means I need to wake myself up,'_ she thought, shaking about to get the old thoughts out of her head.

"Come on old man," she teased Mal. "You can't possibly lose this one."

"Don't jinx me Blood; you can't always predict the outcome." And then Mal was taken away, his large form going through the tent flap, and disappearing forever in the silver she-wolf's eyes.

____''~~''____

"Maybe I should have eaten after that," one pale-faced boy mumbled. He looked sick, and felt it too.

"Toboe, I'm not sure I can really eat now after that smell. Like a bunch of carcasses. What a disgusting town."

"Suck it up both of you. Hey Kiba, let's just leave this place." Tsume looked at the blue eyed young man, then at the two sitting down and growled at them. "You guys are really pathetic. Toboe, stop getting sick." Like his growling was going to help though. The boy was still pale faced and couldn't move. He had never smelt something so gross, or seen a fight like that happen. The crack of that wolf's leg, and the mastiff's paw still echoed in the poor pups head.

"Hey, we can't leave that wolf there though… can we?" Toboe asked the others.

"Of course we can," Tsume said without a care. "She seemed to be enjoying herself before she saw us."

"I'd feel bad if we left a pretty girl there is that place though," Hige said with a sideways glace up at Tsume. He then turned to the only silent one. "Come on Kiba, what do you think? At least we can go and talk to her later or something. Maybe she's not there because she wants to be."

Kiba seemed to think about it a little then nodded his head. Toboe looked better at this, and Hige looked smugly at Tsume. "I think we should at least talk with her, but later tonight."

"Alright then, you heard Kiba. Let's go rest up somewhere away from that smell and we'll come back later tonight!" Hige was the first to speak, and the first to move away from the fighting pits.

"This is getting aggravating," Tsume mumbled, and then followed.

"Come on Toboe," Kiba said to the pup as he walked away. Toboe, still on the ground, quickly jumped up and after the three, already feeling sick again.

"Hey, wait up!"

____''~~''____

Four hours later, and dark had taken hold of the cold, snowy lands. The four traveling wolves easily snuck up to the pit tent. They looked about, holding their nose, but nobody was there, and no dog surely. "I think they're in another tent, but there are over ten of twenty tents here."

"Shut up Toboe, we'll have to split up. Since nobody can use their nose…" Tsume complained a little in his gruff tone.

"We'll look over here," Kiba said, already heading off in the direction where the bigger tents were. Toboe followed him, and so Tsume and Hige went the other way. After only a minute or two, Hige and Tsume came across a tent where a bunch of dogs were growling and barking. The dogs obviously had noticed the two outside, and were warning them to stay away.

"Pretty brave mutt…" Tsume said, growling slightly back.

"Hey, she could be in here though." Hige seemed a little overly happy, now that the only stench came from the dogs. He might also be a little happy to have found the right tent, finally. Sadly, when they snuck in, none of the dogs were willing to talk about the she-wolf. They had no idea who she was. One, the only one to talk, finally got the wolves to leave when he mentioned that there was more than one tent with dogs in them. Every tent that held dogs held two or three teams in them. Obviously, the three teams here did not have the silver wolf.

"Check Chief's team, and get the hell out," the short bull terrier that talked to them spat.

"Sure thing, and thank you sir," Hige said teasingly as he left with Tsume. As soon as they were half way to another tent, Toboe and Kiba came back. There was only one tent that hadn't been checked yet. "Well, this could be it."

And so the four went in the last tent, cautiously looking about. They were met by growls, but weren't asked to leave like the rest. These dogs seemed quieter, which was odd.

____''~~''____

"What do you four want?" asked a pit bull.

"We're looking for, eh… Chief's team was it?" Hige asked, looking at Tsume who just grunted.

"We're Chief's small band. Still, now, what do you want?" The four boys looked around the tent to find five dogs together, and empty cage in the back, and another filled one in the shadows. Other cages with dogs were on the other side of a large stack of boxes, but this was obviously the whole team for Chief.

"We're looking for a wolf, is this where she's at?" Kiba spoke softly, looking at the back shadow.

"And what would you want with her?" The pit bull spat back.

"Calm down, and what do you guys want with me?" In the shadow Blood sat at the front of the cage shushing the pit bull before turning her gaze back on the four boys.

Toboe shivered in her red, dull gaze, but the other three stood strong. They made their way over to where she was, taking off their illusion to look like wolves again. And soon, there they were, staring at Blood who didn't feel like staring back. She did though, coldly, wondering what they thought of her right now.

She still had her muzzle on, along with her chain collar. They couldn't see the stapled together wounds, but her legs, muzzle, and neck was still covered in dried blood. Somebody would wash it off later, but Blood had almost killed a man an hour ago which was why she still wore the muzzle.

"Y-You don't look t-t-too good in there," Toboe stuttered unsure what else to say.

"Well no duh," Tsume said glaring at Toboe as if he had said the most obvious things. "She looks more like shit than just 'not so well'."

"Will you two give it a break, sheesh," this was Hige, or the light brown wolf with the collar; as Blood saw him. "You're scaring the poor girl."

"Don't pity me," Blood warned, her tone dark.

"Sheesh, why so angry?" Hige asked, and the silver she-wolf growled.

"What are you doing here?" The white wolf asked, his golden eyes staring at Blood's red eyes.

"I live here," was her reply.

"H-H-How did you get h-here?" Toboe still slightly stuttered.

"My mother was caught, and I ended up being born here. Now may I ask, what are YOU doing here?"

"We came to see if you had been caught and placed here against your will. But if you like it here, then we will leave you behind." Blood couldn't believe what the white wolf had said, so growled. This was the only response she knew. And then, the wolf turned away from the four and lay back down. She didn't care anymore that there were four free wolves right outside of her cage, probably discussing how dishonorable one of their kind looked being treated like a dog. But who cared? Right now, she didn't.

"Looks likes that's a no. Come on Kiba; let's get the hell out of here." Tsume was the first to leave, followed by Hige. Toboe and Kiba stayed though, waiting as if she was going to change her mind. Blood lay steady though, unmoving.

"Come on Toboe, we need to find Paradise as soon as we can." Toboe followed Kiba a little down casted, but didn't disobey. Only now, after hearing that one word, did Blood move a little. Paradise was only a story… wasn't it? Eyes watched the two wolves leave, then fell to the floor in thought. _'Could I go to Paradise?'_ Blood was full wolf, her mother having already been pregnant when she was caught. There was still some doubt.

However, a little part of Blood felt as if she was asked the white wolf's question a million times before. Every time, she would turn her head away. She was always granted freedom, but would rather remain chained. _'Why do I feel as if I've done this before? I want things to change. I want to be a free wolf.'_

"You… You should go Blood." The first pit bull who had talked before told the silver she-wolf. "Chief'll be mad in the morning, but after today… You should go."

Blood looked at him, then the other dogs. Nobody shook disagreed, and Blood found a part of her that howled with anguish at her predicament. Her instincts drove her forward, and she was soon beating against the side of her cage. She wanted out, wanted out badly.

The muzzle on her face made it hard to open the cage she knew she could easily do it otherwise. Her growls were wild, echoing in her ears and outside of the tent. Her leg hurt though, however it was healing quite well given the moon. But, it seemed as if the humans beat her to the entrance.

Billy was the first on scene and grabbed a stick to beat Blood away from the cage wall she had been hitting against. And then there were three others soon followed by Chief. All were frantic, wondering why the silver canine was howling crazed. And then, the cage wall gave way and she was out.

Billy was the first to be tackled, stepped on, and left in the dust. Blood couldn't get very far before Chief and his men where on top of her, literally. They held her down like a croc hunter holding down a croc. Blood still trashed about, growling and the other dogs were barking loudly, setting off a chain of barking from all of the tents containing dogs.

"Hold her down damn it!" Chief was yelling furiously. And then, out of nowhere, a howl, followed by a sharp growl. There was a white flash, a grey one then a light brown one. Three wolves, the ones from before, were on top of the men holding them off of the silver she-wolf. The brown and red wolf pup then came and helped Blood up. Both ran to the exit… and Blood stopped.

Before the she-wolf was a white carpet. It was wet and cold though. The wolf touched it lightly, unsure until memory of Dante and _snow_ helped Blood figure out that the land before her was only covered in harmless snow.

"Come on!" The pup shouted, and the hesitant wolf followed. As every foot fell on the ground, she felt better in the snow. _'It's only harmless snow,'_ she thought. But Blood had also heard the stories of heavy, very harmful snow falls, and wasn't sure what to do.

"You act as if you've never seen snow before," came the grey wolf with the other two.

"I haven't. I've only been told by Dante and Mal… Both who are dead now," was Blood's only reply. '_Yes, Mal's dead too, I have to remember that. His fight this morning was his last one and that newbie brat wasn't so new to the game after all.'_

"Wow…" and Tsume couldn't say anything else. He just turned his attention to the road ahead as the once four, now five, wolves ran toward the scent of lunar flowers and away from the people shouting behind them.

'_I'm a little scared, but that's okay. I'm free now, and will forever be.'_

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_Alrighty. Please, hope you Review. Next chapter I'll put up if someone will review for me *puppy dog eyes* I'd love you forever!_


	3. Chapter 3

YAY! Third chapter up. Hope you enjoy it ^^ and thanks for the reviews!

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Two days, and as Blood found out, getting into the 'routine' of her new pack was easier than running from Chief and his men. The silver wolf couldn't believe it had been two days already, and everything was new to her. When she saw a large rock, bigger than herself, Blood almost flipped out. She was curious, and loved to climb on the large boulders to new heights. Tsume would always mumble about how she would react to mountains, but from day one Blood was sure she could nail the grey wolf's personality and what he thought of her. Toboe, the pup, enjoyed the breaks, and the other two didn't seem to care. Thinking about it now, as she ran with the four boys in a straight line through a dry desert storm, Blood recalled her first day with them and the 'fun' little experience it was getting to know them.

____''~~''____

_The five wolves had been running for a little over an hour before one of them called out to slow down. They wanted to get as far away from the humans as they could, and sure that they were far enough, slowed into a walking pace. Blood figured it was for her own sake. She was still slightly hurting from the morning before, but wouldn't show it. Eyes were everywhere at once, and couldn't stop herself from being excited. Never before had she been out of a tent or her cage. And if it wasn't either one of those, then it was the pit. And, the silver she-wolf was happy. This feeling was one she hadn't felt so strongly before._

"_Your leg… why are there staples in them?" The red wolf pup asked Blood with a worried tone. The she-wolf just shrugged and explained the best way she could._

"_It's to close the wound quickly so I could fight again. Though it was easy for me to heal, the humans still put them into me," and Blood made it seem as if it were nothing._

"_That must hurt."_

"_Eh," Blood replied, and then watched as a bird flew over head. Now there was something she was used to. While having never seen the land before, Blood had seen the sky when she would look out a window or a rip in the tent._

"_My name's Toboe, what's your by the way?" The pup liked to talk, it seemed, and the silver wolf didn't mind. She looked over to the smaller canine and nodded her head in greeting._

"_Hmm. I don't really have a name, just a title. But I was called the Blood Bathing Baroness. Odd name, the humans suck at giving them. You can call me Blood though, for the eyes. Everyone else did," And Blood grinned while saying this, once again in a nonchalant way._

"_Odd name," spoke the other, creamy brown colored wolf. "Well, my name's Hige, the grey wolf's Tsume and the white one Kiba." Once again Blood nodded in greeting._

"_Where are we heading by the way? I mean, I heard where you guys were going but how are we suppose to get there?" Red eyes looked at the other wolves waiting for an answer, but it seemed as if only the white wolf could speak._

"_We're heading to Paradise. What we're following the scent of lunar flower."_

"_Yeah, that's where Cheza will be," Hige said following up on Kiba's answer._

"_Please, you still going on about that shit?" Tsume always seemed to have a problem with everything. "Look at us; you really think we can get there? One pup, a fatty, and now a half beaten dog. Not a very good start if you ask me."_

"_Hey!" Blood growled a warning._

"_Just ignore him Blood, he's just a little testy now-a-days." Hige seemed to have a little bit of fun while saying that. Tsume just growled a warning._

"_If you don't want to be here Tsume, then leave." Kiba looked at the grey wolf with the scar across his chest, then forward again and took off running. The rest followed without saying anything and Blood had a good idea that the trip would b a relatively quiet one._

____''~~''____

Toboe was the only one that possibly spoke more during the past two days than Blood, but it was usually to each other. Blood was out of pup hood, but she was actually younger than Kiba and the other two boys. At least she wasn't called runt by Hige and Tsume though, as tended to happen to Toboe.

"Hey Kiba, the storm is getting worse. Let's get somewhere safe," Hige called out, and Kiba grunted in agreement. And for another few minutes they ran, finding themselves now caught up in a blizzard. Blood spotted a large hole under some rocks though, and all five wolves quickly took refuge. From what the she-wolf had learned, the world outside of her cage was in chaos. A land of snow would within an instant turn into a land of desert. There weren't many trees either, just a bunch of large rocks. Then again, Blood had never seen trees before either to feel as if she was missing out on anything special.

"How much further do you think we need to go?" Blood asked out loud randomly, wondering if anyone knew.

"Don't know," Hige said, "but right now I don't quite care for Paradise… I'm hungry." And as if to prove it, his stomach growled. Toboe's and Blood's soon followed.

"It's only been two days since we last ate, are you kidding?" Tsume had a problem, as always.

"We can last longer, but once this storm lets up we can try to find something." And, as always with Kiba, he played it cool. And so, a bit later, they were off again. This time, Hige lead with nose in the air.

"I swear, I can smell something good!" Blood could smell something too, but it didn't smell all that great.

"Are you sure your nose hasn't up and died on you Hige?" she asked. He didn't seem to hear though, and on top of a hill there laid a dead deer. It looked quite disgusting, and Blood made a weird face at it while the rest dug in. "Not eating Tsume?" the silver wolf asked the grey one who was also keeping his distance.

"Looks disgusting."

"Heh… I agree."

"Oh come on you two, it tastes great!" Toboe grinned at both and handed a piece to Blood with human hands. Blood took the meat with a little bit of hesitation, but found the morsel was edible. She hadn't tried out a human look yet, finding no need, but knew at one point she would probably have to_. 'I will soon,'_ she would always think to herself. _'When it's needed I will.'_

"Does anyone know what Paradise is like?" Toboe had to bring up the 'P' word again, and Blood just waited. Hige tried to explain what he thought, but couldn't declare anything.

"Will you stop with that? It's nothing but a story." Tsume retorted and Blood, who had been waiting for that outburst, went back to eating her little meal.

"Why's he still here then if he doesn't want to go?" she finally asked Hige through a mouthful of deer.

"No idea," he replied the same, muffled way.

"You know, you two are right. There's no reason for me to be with this stupid group anymore." Blood and Hige just shared a look, and then turned eyes back to Tsume with little care.

"Hey, come on Tsume!" Toboe tried to stop the leather bound man disguised wolf, but was shoved away. Tsume then ran off.

"I thought wolves were pack animals. What's he running off for?" Blood asked a little worried now that the grey wolf was actually leaving them for good. While he seemed to be just about angry with the entire world, Blood couldn't deny that even he had tried to save her from the humans who tried to stop her from leaving.

"Just leave him," Hige warned both Blood and Toboe. "Why do you care so much anyways Toboe?"

"Because he really is nice," and then the pup ran off. Blood watched, but didn't follow. Hige then turned to Blood as if she were about to do the same thing.

"I don't know about Tsume, but I like company," was her excuse. "He'll probably be back though, nowhere else to go out here."

"Eh," Hige shrugged, then went and finished the rest of the food.

"Fatty," Blood mumbled teasingly.

"We'll wait here for now. Maybe they will come back," Kiba declared before walking a little ways from the carcass to lie in the shade of a rock.

"What if they don't?" Blood asked, coming over to lie next to the human disguised white wolf.

"We can figure that out when we're ready to go," Hige answered for him, also coming over for some shade and rest. First, though, he had to shove Blood out of the way to make more room for him. Other than a grunt, she didn't care.

"Hey Blood," Kiba said in a whisper.

"Hmm?"

"We need to give you a new name later." And then it went silent as the trio napped for a bit.

____''~~''____

Something was strange in the wind, or at least, out of place. Silver lids opened to reveal dull, tired red eyes. _'Why am I awake? It's as if I never slept.'_ Blood yawned, stood up, and stretched. She looked at Hige and Kiba who were still sleeping, and then in the direction the wind was blowing from. Something about it didn't feel right. _'That's where Toboe and Tsume came from though…'_

Narrowing her eyes, now alight with curiosity, Blood paced away from the two still dozing and toward the 'strange feeling'. Her white paws ran into the ground, thumping heavily though only a slight click of her claws ever reached out with sound. Behind her, the sun was setting casting large shadows. And then came the firing of a gun.

The sound was so loud, Blood skidded into a halt. Ears were back and the young silver wolf looked around with wild eyes trying to find the source. When the guns went off again, Blood followed the sound sure that she was going to be seeing Tsume and Toboe with a bunch of humans out to kill them. Her heart raced, and as she came upon a city the last bit of sunlight had left.

The land was now dark, and Blood took advantage of that. She stayed in the shadows, sniffing about for her friend and Tsume. The firing had stopped, hopefully for a good reason. So Blood padded around some more.

At one point she had caught Tsume's scent, mixed in with blood. It was _his _blood. A little worried, and determined to find out more about the situation, the silver she-wolf ran ahead and down a long cement path she knew was called a road. And while the large buildings would be fun to look at, Blood thought against the idea giving the circumstances.

"Where are they," she mumbled to herself. It was too quiet for the canine's taste, but then there was a click of something that wasn't caused by her claws. Blood slowed down a bit and turned her head back, but nothing was there. She had just stepped on something, the girl noticed, and so pushed forward.

Little did the warrior female know that cold red eyes were following her, after having been awoken from a long, long slumber.

____''~~''____

"Hey Kiba, where do you suppose Blood went?" A now waking Hige looked around with an already up and sitting Kiba with eyes toward the rising moon.

"Dun know. Probably out to find Toboe."

"She cares for that runt too much."

"Eh."

And it went quiet again.

____''~~''____

"What the hell!"

After having been running for almost five minutes, Blood found who she was looking for, and something she didn't expect. A machine of sorts, a very large machine of sorts, had the two male wolves caught in a bind. The road had broken off, and they would be forced to jump if the machine started to attack again.

Frantic, Blood ran faster to stop the machine from totally killing Toboe… and Tsume too. Her legs were slightly burning, but she wasn't tired yet. She howled furiously as she leapt for the machine, but it had already shot at the boys causing them to fall into a chasm.

Right after, Blood made fang to metal contact. She had a piece that looked like its eye, and she quickly ripped that away. For a while it spun in circles, and then another eye on the side replaced the old. An arm reached out with a gun to shoot the silver wolf off, but she let go just as it started to fire. It had hit itself, and Blood grinned inwardly, but knew better than to feel triumphant. She'd fought before, plenty of times before, and knew to never let her back turn.

While avoiding more gun shots, Blood was able to reach the machine again and tear at its 'head' more. She was even able to get one of its weapons before being thrown off. Her side hit the ground first before she was able to tuck her legs under. Red, warm blood leaked out of a few scratches on Blood's side where skin had met road. There wasn't much pain though, so the wolf fought on.

Before she could get close again though, the machine fired a large gun in the she-wolf's direction. Ears flattened and Blood tried to dodge the attack with little room to move. The ammo didn't hit the girl, but the blast did. Blood howled, feeling some of that pain now, and turned toward the mechanical beast growling.

It moved toward her, but was stopped by a large moaning sound. Blood even felt the vibration, and looked down at her paws before realizing what was happening.

Once again, with little time to move, Blood jumped into the air as the road gave way and fell down, far down. The machine went with it, and was buried by the large blocks of cement. Blood was able to land on top of the destruction, mostly, but was hit once again.

Eyes turned back to the machine though, pushing away the pain. The cold creature moved a little, made a few beeping sounds, then went silent. There the wolf stood with tail raised before she was sure that the machine was dead. It hadn't moved for another ten minutes, so Blood finally turned away with a wagging tail.

'_I have to find Tsume and Toboe though,'_ Blood wanted to know if they were alright. It didn't take the wolf long to get to the bottom of the chasm though, with a simple jump she went from top to bottom in mere seconds.

"Toboe! Tsume! Where are you guys!" She howled, scanning around for any signs. A little noise, and out from inside of a cave came the pup.

"Blood! Hurry, get in here or that machine will kill you!"

"Pfft, it's dead. I made sure to get rid of it."

"Really?"

"Would I look the way I do, bleeding the way I am if I hadn't?"

"Good point," Toboe said, looking relieved. Blood joined him in the cave and told him and Tsume about what had happened. The pup seemed interested, but the grey wolf did not.

"Good for you," he said with that negative tone of his. Blood just shrugged, and then smiled before heading towards the cave entrance.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Blood suggested and Tsume stood up and made his way with Toboe at his side. The older wolf wouldn't allow the younger one to touch him, but it didn't stop him from worrying.

"Hey, I thought you said that it was dead." Tsume said, his voice rough now and alarmed. Blood thought it was but, when she looked away from the two boys and to the cliff, she was wrong.

Eyes widened to see a new machine, different from the one before, making its way down the side of the cliff. All three wolves started to make a run for it as it fired, still slowly moving along to reach the bottom.

____''~~''____

"Hey Kiba, why don't we just leave that guy behind?" The night sky was a beautifully clear one on this night, and there were no storms to change it otherwise. Both boys left behind by the other three were enjoying watching the night sky as the moon grew higher. They lay on some grass next to one another, talking every now and then, though it was mostly due to Hige.

"Tsume sees things differently than the rest of us, and I think it just has something to do with his past."

"Eh, I don't know. I think Toboe likes him too much along with Blood."

"We'll need all the wolves we can have if we want to get to Paradise."

"I know, but do we really need _that_ wolf?"

"Maybe he'll change later, who knows."

"Well, I'm bored."

"…."

"I hope Blood doesn't disappear like the other two. I'd hate to lose the only chick in our group."

"Yeah, what a shame," Kiba said in a light tone, teasing Hige a little.

"It would be though…"

____''~~''____

"So much for killing that one!" Tsume was yelling while they ran. Blood was almost getting sick of it, but could only yell back.

"I swear that's not the same one."

"How do you know?" Toboe asked while panting.

"I don't know… I might have triggered this one…" And Blood waited for what was to come.

"WHAT!?" And there it was.

"Calm down Tsume! Look, you two head up the cliff again!"

"What about you Blood?" Toboe asked a little worried.

"I'll hold it off."

"What?" Toboe seemed as if he was about to say more but Tsume interrupted.

"Fine with me," and he limped on ahead.

"Tsume!" Toboe called after the grey wolf with just a small hint of anger in his voice. Blood could have laughed at the young boy trying to be mad, but it didn't seem convincing.

And while the two got away, Blood turned to face the machine with fangs bared. She growled, and it shot at her. The weapons were much better on this one, Blood took note. Most of the bullets ended up grazing her causing small amounts of stinging along her flank everywhere.

'_This is starting to get to me,'_ Blood thought looking for a way to defeat the large cold monster. With no option, the silver wolf turned to the cliff side and ran up it. Her mouth hung open to catch as many gasps of air as they could as she landed back on flat land. Guns followed her all the way up, and then stopped. _'Good, I have time now to get away.'_

Blood hoped that the other two had gone a different way than she. Looking around, it seemed so. _'Can't stand around though.'_ Behind, the machine was already catching up. The wolf could smell its presence getting closer. _'At least it hadn't gone after the others.'_

Running ahead, Blood made her way back to the large road where the other mechanical monster lay dead. Sadly, she met up with Tsume and Toboe again climbing on top of the rubble to get away.

"What are you doing!? Get away!" Blood yelled out as she heard the clambering of the monster behind getting closer.

"Trying!" Yelled back Tsume

"Well, since we're here together might I show you the_ first_ machine I had to deal with… dead." Blood came up behind the two, and pointed to her triumphant victory.

"Yeah, yeah." Tsume didn't seem to be in the mood for praising. Then again, Blood had never seen him in that sort of _positive_ mood ever.

"Uh, guys, it's now up and coming after us!" Toboe said, leaping up one more piece of rubble after Tsume. Blood crouched down on a jutted out block of cement below them. They were a good twenty feet off the ground right now, but still had two more leaps to be on the main road again where it wasn't broken. The machine had guns though, and could pick them off easily before that.

Luckily, there came the rescue team.

A white flash flew over the three wolves trying to make it up the road rubble and back onto solid ground. It was Kiba, growling madly after landing and ripping out one of the monster's guns that had, before, been aimed at the three individuals ahead.

"Hey guys, come on!" From above Blood stood Hige, and then Tsume as he made the last, painful looking, leap onto solid ground. Toboe followed but Blood followed Kiba in battle. She became a silver flash, ramming against the large creature before biting off an arm that appeared out of its side.

Together, white and silver furred wolves bite down and ripped at the enemy. It wouldn't die though, and Blood was starting to get a little tired. Finally, the monster caught her grabbing her with another arm and pinning her to the ground. It had a large gun on her, and powered up. The she-wolf closed her eyes and looked away, thinking that this was the end.

'_Here, I'm going to die here.'_ Blood cringed, and then the gun fired, loud and hot. The young silver wolf could feel hot breath.

'_At least the past few days have been good. I guess I can die happily…'_

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_OK, same as usual. Please Review. I really want to know if I can improve on anything. I have my brother who edits my stories, but I want to hear from the readers if there is something I can do better._


	4. Chapter 4

T.T I can't believe it took me this long to get this chapter up. I'm so sorry, especially for those who were waiting. I know, I suck. It's been a busy year and I just remembered about this story and sat myself down and had to find all of my stuff again for it, as my computer had died twice this year on me and everything was on my millions upon millions of flashdrives. Took me a while to figure out which one x.x

Anywho, I hope you enjoy, it gets better from here actually, changing a little. Can't wait to get up my next few chapters. I'm already excited!

Please R&R still, I'd love the feed back. Sorry if there are some gramatical mistakes, forgot to get my brother to check it over. Also remember, this site is called fanfiction... don't expect me to own anything (well, except for Blood x3)

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There was something strange about the way the wind had blown. It wasn't as warm as it should have been, coming from the desert. There was a chill in the air, but it seemed to have gone almost unnoticed by many of the forest dwellers. Only one turned toward the direction of the sand filled land and beyond.

A cat of sorts, lean with long legs, had been, before the cold whisper, sleeping. He now slinked away from what had become his home, all senses working to lead him toward the cause of his strange new migration.

'_There's been a change… And a dark, very dark place lies ahead of that.'_

Leaves rustled lightly above, but the forest floor was silent below.

'_I feel it now, when I hadn't before. Why now though?'_ … And the feline creature padded along without anyone else noticing.

_''~~''_

Dawn broke out with an eerie silence, enchanting the land to do the same. Snow fell lightly upon the ground, while some melt in mid air due to the new warmth of the rising sun. Under the rubble of some concrete one large machine lay like a statue in death. It seemed peaceful and calm.

Only a hundred or so yards away there was another machine. It wasn't covered by concrete, or snow. It wasn't a calm statue either, and broke the morning's silence with its moans of pain.

Beside the creature stood a white wolf, watching it as it slowly died. A few more cracks and wails, and then the silence of the morning once more took hold.

Golden eyes then turned away from the mechanical creature, now uninterested in it, and looked at the limp form of another wolf with another light pelt not too far away. This wolf was covered in blood, and was adding to the quietness of the land by making no sound. Her usually beautiful silver pelt look ruined, but could be fixed.

Kiba watched Blood as she slept. He had just barely saved her life, plunging a rock deep into the gun of the machine to stop the bullets from hitting his companion. The machine then exploded in on itself, knocking the she-wolf out cold and burning some of her, and his, fur.

"Should we try to wake her up, or let her sleep a little longer?" Hige came towards the pair of light pelted wolves and sat down in his human form.

"Not sure, Tsume is also hurt. Might be good if we wait."

"I'm not that injured," the grey wolf spoke up for himself while leaning against Toboe for a little bit of support. "Somebody just pick her up and let's go already," he didn't sound rude this time, but tired. Obviously he couldn't make fun of Blood for her state because it was she who had saved his life.

"Fine, I'll get her," Hige moved to pick up the she-wolf. He was the only one totally uninjured from the fight, and easily threw the silver wolf over his shoulder.

"Let's move then," Kiba said, while leading the way with Toboe and Tsume right behind him and Hige with Blood coming in last. It was a silent little trip, more so since Blood wasn't awake to talk with Toboe. The sun rose up into the slightly cloudy sky little by little, and was almost over head exactly before Toboe finally broke the silence.

"Ya know, you looked really cool out there fighting Kiba…" Nobody said anything. "So did Blood, you two were so fast and strong."

"Stop giving Blood compliments runt, if she wakes up and hears that she'll be gloating for the rest of the day," Tsume warned, and Hige behind laughed a bit knowing all too well like the others that Blood probably would.

"Toboe's right though. Blood could practically be related to you Kiba. Then again, that's because you two looked like lightning out there. If it were a contest to see who could talk the most, she'd be more so related to Toboe." Hige laughed a bit at his own joke, and Toboe didn't seem to care about being told that he talked a little too much. Tsume stayed quiet though along with Kiba, who was too far away now ahead of the group to hear. "Hey Kiba, slow down!"

_''~~''_

'God my head hurts. Gah. Where am I right now?' _Red eyes looked about the dark room._

'It's so quiet, I can't hear anything. Only that buzzing.'_ It sounded as if bees were flying around the invisible while cloaked in the darkness. There was no sign of life within the darkness, except for the aggravating sounds. Blood could only see her own paws below her, her own back behind. She seemed to be the only thing standing out._

'Where are you…?' _An unexpected voice whispered…_

_Crimson eyes, once again, did a roundabout search for movement of any kind. But of course, there was nothing. Blood was all by herself. But that voice lingered. It sounded male, and young. However, how could one tell when it was all but an echo in the background of the buzzing?_

"Get up,"_ there it was again. But, no. This voice was male, except it was easier to tell than last time. It was also familiar. Definitely a different voice from before, Blood was sure._

_''~~''_

Opening eyes once caught up in nothing but darkness, Blood slowly awoke herself. She was still tired however, and the light of day stabbed her painfully. She wanted to turn away from the brightness, but couldn't. Instead, she got used to it. Slowly, but surely, her eyes lids heaved up. Standing above her were two people, humans that were not. Wolves, more like it.

"Nice to see you awake," it was Tsume. That was the voice from before, however, not the first voice.

"Why'd you wake me up?" She asked him, in an angry tone.

"You've slept enough," he replied simply, walking away. Still staring at her, however, was Toboe. He seemed to be waiting for her to get up. So, grumbling, Blood pulled her legs under her and stiffly got into a sitting position. Next to her now, Toboe started to grin wolfishly.

"What?" The silver she-wolf was not in the mood for all of this pup's happiness.

"Nothing, but I'm glad you're alright. You've been out for an entire day now."

"That long, really?" Red eyes looked curiously at bright amber ones. She hadn't known it was that long. Why had she been sleeping for that long? Nothing came to mind to answer her question, not before her stomach rumbled in hunger.

"Ha, knew it!" Well, didn't Toboe look like the triumphant king of the world? Blood growled at her companion before a large chunk of meat plopped down in front of her. Swiveling around, before her stood a large white wolf.

"Thanks Kiba," she said before diving down into the goods. Toboe was still grinning next to her while the other wolf walked away. Everything was as it was before. There was peace again, but why again?

Finishing off her small meal, Blood turned to the young wolf to ask the main question. "What happened?" Her voice came out softly so the others not too far away couldn't hear. She didn't really want them to know about her elapse in memory.

"You don't remember?" Toboe asked, following her quietness. In response, the silver female shook her head 'no'. "You fought that huge machine monster. You and Kiba. It was amazing, but you were caught up bad in the explosion."

"Ah, I still can't remember it though… but it seems familiar."

"I'm sure it'll come back."

Not long after the meal, all five wolves were again in the direction of the lunar flower scent. It wasn't as eventful, like before, so Blood spent the run trying to regain her memory. Yet, it never came. She was left wondering, and at the same time, uncaring. After a good few hours, her mind was turned elsewhere.

"So you haven't seen the ocean either, have you Blood?" Like always, it was Toboe who talked to the silver she-wolf.

"Nope," Blood shook her head running beside the pup.

"I'm sure we will. You'll like it."

"Tell me about it, will ya?"

"It's not all that interesting," from behind, Hige made a subtle comment that reached both the ears of the younger wolves.

"Don't say that Hige," Toboe complained.

"Eh, I'll be the judge of that," Blood retorted back to the tawny coated brute. She wanted to see this large expanse of water so filled with salt. It was suppose to be blue far past the eye could see. So pretty much, it was like the sky. How wonderful! While the sky was a much more familiar sight to the silver female than the land providing nothing new see, she probably still enjoyed the large expanse of the heavens above her head more than the ever changing and new surroundings at eye level.

"We've been running all day, we'll stop here for now and rest." From the front of the group, Kiba called back to the rest almost startling the younger wolves from their thoughts and small conversation.

Blood hadn't notice the time flying that quickly, or the change from day to night. The sun would be rising again soon; however, the stars were still visible above. There weren't many clouds luckily, which allowed full view into its depths.

Red eyes looked up and watched the starry heaven while the others settled down around. Toboe came and slept next to the silver wolf, and she enjoyed his warmth. Hige wasn't too far away, and Kiba and Tsume stayed beyond that. They weren't a very close little 'family', or group of friends; however, they were better than what any one of them _once_ had. Whether a life with annoying humans, loud dogs, a cold lonely tree or a cold cramped cage, Blood found their company better than the _past_.

'_I miss some of them dogs though,'_ she thought to herself, before laying her head down on her front legs. Sleep came easily enough; despite the hours she had been unconscious earlier that day. And it was another dark sleep. Her, by herself… alone in a dark place where only she stood out. Hours upon hours of the loneliness, it seemed. And no voice this time.

Waking up was actually a relief hardly two hours later. The company of her traveling 'companions' was much preferred, including their odd disposition, than an endless, soundless, sightless dream.

"The ocean isn't too far ahead, if we hurry we can hit it by noon," it was Tsume talking, seeming to know the way for a change. Blood just nodded at him and went ahead of the group, followed by Toboe. It almost seemed as if this new day was going to be like every other, Blood and Toboe talking while the others run ahead (or in this case, behind) silently.

"Let's at least be the first to see the ocean, eh, Toboe?" The silver she-wolf looked over to her friend and he nodded in agreement. She also wanted to get away from the bore-heads (as she considered them) to maybe have a 'relaxing' run.

_''~~''_

"I- Is that seriously it?" It took less than three hours for the group came upon the ocean. They had smelt it's salty winds from miles away, and Blood had only grown more and more curious before coming over a hill to be presented with the 'touchable sky'. She had 'oohed' and 'awwed' all the way to the shore line, never losing interest.

"It's so cold," Blood said, laughing a little all the while without care. Toboe wagged his tail at seeing her happy, and Hige just made a few sarcastic remarks to which Blood glared back.

"The scent of Lunar Flowers is coming from the direction of the sea…" Kiba observed, looking upon the ocean.

"There's a bridge not too far from here, I saw it while on one of the hills," Tsume turned his grey head in the direction to point it out. "Come on; let's go before Blood pees herself from all this 'excitement'."

"Hey!" Blood turned at the comment, and then raised her silver tail in anger. She bared her fangs at the older brute, growling all the while. Tsume just huffed and walked away, obviously not threatened until the she-wolf swiftly ran up behind him and snapped at his tail. She successfully bit into it before getting kicked in the face. Blood let go, only to throw herself at the leg hardly a fangs length away. She was just about to bite down when Hige tumbled into her, knocking her aside and Kiba stood between the two fighting wolves.

"Guys, we shouldn't be fighting!" That was Toboe.

"Come on, let's just go," Hige nudged Blood toward the bridge without much else to say. Tsume stilled growled in the she-wolf's direction, but the other just ignored her 'once-opponent'. After years of fighting, it was easy to do.

Kiba didn't say anything to the little spat before him, just turned and headed toward the bridge like the others. Toboe was, for once, quiet, and the five wolves walked on without a word for once since Blood had joined.

_''~~''_

It didn't take the group long to find the bridge, and were already half way over it when Toboe spotted the village at the other end. His voice had startled most of the others, due to the silence, but all quickly recovered. Blood was the next to speak.

"It looks small from here," she observed through a thick snow fall that had started not to long after they had come upon the bridge.

"It is, I'm sure, just some small insignificant human town," Hige said from behind her. Blood turned to look at him and almost laughed at his think fur being pushed away from his body due to the strong wind.

"Tsume's right I think, Hige, you _are_ a little pudgy even with the wind pushing your fur away," Blood grinned at the light tan wolf, before jumping away as Hige made a fake charge in her direction. At that, the she-wolf just laughed and ran up to where Toboe was walking. It seemed the good mood of the group was back.

_''~~''_

By the time the group had hit the city, the boys were clocked in their illusion as young men and a teen. Blood hadn't even really noticed the change, being use to it by now. They noticed her however, or Hige did at least.

"You should change, you know?" He tried to hint but Blood just ignored him. She was a little afraid to actually, unsure of how or if she could. So instead, she walked on ahead of the group and deeper into the town.

"It's a lot larger than it looked from back on the bridge," Blood whispered mainly to herself, but Kiba was near and heard her.

"You'll get use to it, this isn't even all that big compared to the cities." Blood just nodded at him, understanding, and went over to walk with Toboe and Tsume.

"It's a little creepy here," Toboe said, looking around at the buildings.

"Everyone's hiding from us, they obviously don't like visitors." Blood looked to Tsume as he spoke, then to the windows of the buildings and noticed a few humans _were_ hiding behind them only peeking out every now and then.

"Well well, look what we have here."

Blood turned her crimson eyes at the new voice, looking ahead of her where Kiba had turned a corner with Hige. She picked up her pace slightly and made the turn to come face-to-face with a much larger wolf pack. Her surprise at seeing them stopped her where she was. Toboe and Tsume followed her and just about did the same, well, Toboe did at least.

"There are wolves here?" Toboe didn't seem to know what else to say. Blood recovered as best she could, and then moved closer to where Kiba and Hige stood.

"Look, they have a pretty little girl don't they Zari?" The wolf that had spoken before had spoken again, and Blood turned to cold eyes in the direction of the wolf. He almost seemed to freeze a little at her bloody glare. Maybe a little surprised? Not many wolves shared her strange eye coloration.

"Shut up Moss," the one named Zari said, keeping his eyes on Blood and the rest of the 'newcomer' group. It was then that the she-wolf noticed all of these wolves were also under an appearance illusion. Also, among all of the males, there was one female.

"You should probably hide that girl while in this town, or get out of it." The scarred face leader warned, but this only caused a low growl to emit from Blood's maw. She didn't enjoy being told what to do, or having other believe that she could so easily be controlled.

"We're only passing through," Kiba stated, almost sharing Blood's evil look (though she performed it better).

"And where might you be heading? There aren't really a lot of places to go beyond this town."

"We're going to Paradise," Toboe spoke up, and Tsume glared at him. Blood grinned in his direction however, enjoying the younger pup's braveness. The other wolves however, the town's wolves, laughed out loudly. All seemed to think it was a joke.

"Paradise doesn't exist, you idiots," it was Moss again.

"We've been to Paradise before, and I can tell you it was nothing but hell," Zari spoke again, a little less rude than his colleague.

"What?" Kiba seemed to be the most hurt at this statement, but stayed calm.

"You heard me, there is no such thing as Paradise. Find something else to do with your life before you die."

By now, Blood's hackles were raised in a threatening posture. Hige tapped her head and shook his head to get her to stop. Only because she liked Hige did the silver female stop and let her tail fall back at her side. Some of the other wolves laughed again, but Blood kept her head up and walked away with the rest of the group. Toboe seemed a little down casted, but Kiba was back to his silent self. He didn't seem to really be affected be Zari and his pack.

When far enough away and out of sight and hearing, Tsume voiced his own opinions as he often did. "Come on, let's just leave this town. We're obviously not wanted."

"I agree with Tsume for a change," Hige spoke up scratching his messy hair.

"I wonder why those wolves stay here of all places, and why there are so many," Kiba voiced out loud, as if in his own thoughts without saying much more. Blood was a little curious as well now, and looked behind her as if she could see the other wolves through the houses.

'_I wonder as well, what are they hiding?'_


	5. Author's Note

Alright, it's time to clean things up here and let everyone know what's happening. I AM NOT LETTING THIS STORY GO! I will finish this, especially now that I have a full outline for it. I've made a new account however and will be restarting the story. The theme will be the same, so you won't find too much of a change. Just know that I will be sort of renewing the story and that it's a ton better.

Not sure who still watches me or even cares. Hopefully those who were really excited for this story will see this note and be relieved. You might hate me for being gone so long, I know I suck. I'm excited to start over again, so please bear with ;)

EDIT: forget to give you my new account link .net/u/3719604/D_E_Newtt


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